THE BEST SOCCER PLAYERS

Steven Gerrard will miss both of England's forthcoming World Cup qualifiers after having an operation on Thursday on his troublesome groin problem. Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez revealed that Gerrard has been playing through constant pain after the Anfield side forced their way into the Champions League group stages. A goal two minutes from the end of extra-time by Dirk Kuyt gave Liverpool a 1-0 aggregate victory over a brave Standard Liege side in the third qualifying round. But it was clear that Gerrard was not at his best, and he will now go under the knife to make sure he is fit to lead Liverpool into the group stages in September. Gerrard will miss Liverpool's trip to Aston Villa on Sunday, the England games with Andorra and Croatia and possibly the Reds' home league game with Manchester United on September 13. Benitez said, "He has a groin problem so he will have an operation and could be out for 10 to 15 days. It is not serious but we need to do it now. He has b

For Philippe Senderos, joining Milan is a dream come true. Now there is, most of all, a lot of desire to work. Senderos has joined AC Milan from Arsenal on a season-long loan deal on 27 August 2008. With already a good knowledge of the Italian language, Philippe Senderos gave his first few declarations as a new Milan player before the afternoon. "I am very happy to be able to play for a team like Milan, for me it's like a dream come true, everything went very quickly, in a week. Here everything is incredible, the people are very simple and I can say they have made me feel right at home." Philippe Senderos then talked about all his personal successes but for him the dream isn't over. "In the past I have achieved some satisfactions, like winning the European Championship with the Under 17 team and then of course at 18 my passage to a great team like Arsenal. in London I learned a lot, it was a life school and Wenger helped me, but today I can certainly say I have r

Robinho's agent remains hopeful the player could still secure a move to Chelsea despite Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon's insistence he is not for sale. Chelsea have already had one offer turned down for the Brazil forward who reportedly has his heart set on a move to Stamford Bridge. Calderon is adamant Robinho is going nowhere, but Vagner Ribeiro believes his client could still leave the Bernabeu this summer. 'He (Calderon) was very polite with us,' he told Globoesporte.com. 'I told him that we had an offer of 32million euros from Chelsea and that Robinho wanted to leave the club.' 'He said he didn't want to hear that a player was unhappy with the team, but at the end nothing much was going to happen.' 'Calderon said that he wouldn't sell Robinho even for 100 million. He was very emphatic.' 'I left the meeting thinking that was that. But then I spoke to other directors of the club and saw that this position could end up changin

Zenit St Petersburg claim they have lowered their asking price for Andrei Arshavin to clear the path for the Russia forward to move to Tottenham. Spurs were originally told the 27-year-old, who starred at Euro 2008 for his country, would cost upwards of £20million and no fee was agreed between the clubs. Arshavin, encouraged by a conversation with Tottenham head coach Juande Ramos, is willing to join Spurs after initially declaring Barcelona as his preferred destination. Spurs are in the market for strikers following the departure of Robbie Keane to Liverpool and Dimitar Berbatov wanting to leave White Hart Lane Lane for Manchester United. Arshavin would be seen as a like-for-like replacement for Keane. "There are only small differences left," Zenit sporting director Konstantin Sarsaniya told Russian newspaper Sovetsky Sport, who suggested a deal could be concluded over the weekend. "Zenit have decided to reduce the asking price for Andrei, but exactly how much I cannot

Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi is set to miss the Olympic Games football tournament after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled Wednesday that clubs were not obliged to release players for the event. The Lausanne-based CAS's ruling has major implications for reigning Olympic champions Argentina and fellow South American giants Brazil ahead of the start of Thursday's tournament, primarily an Under-23 event although teams can field over-age players. Barcelona, Werder Bremen and Schalke had all been fighting to keep their young stars -- Argentina's Messi and Brazil's Diego and Rafinha -- out of the Games, which clash with their own season after appealing an earlier ruling by FIFA, football's world governing body, which said players must be allowed to compete in Beijing. "FIFA is surprised and disappointed by this decision, but we respect it," said FIFA president Sepp Blatter. "Nevertheless, I appeal to the clubs: Let your players take part in

Liverpool's increasingly impressive unbeaten pre-season run was stretched to seven games via a 4-1 win against Valerenga in Oslo - but they suffered the worrying loss of skipper Steven Gerrard. The midfielder limped off in the first half of this comfortable victory with what looked like a recurrence of a groin problem that has dogged him in recent weeks. Liverpool will hope they took Gerrard out of the action before any further serious damage could be done, but with a Champions League qualifier in a week's time against Standard Liege, this is a problem boss Rafael Benitez could do without. The loss of Gerrard after 27 minutes, though, was a worrying blow. After bursting from defence, he pulled up with what seemed a recurrence of the injury that has disrupted his pre-season. Teenager Jay Spearing took over. Steven George Gerrard MBE born at 30 May 1980 in Whiston, Merseyside, England. He has been called an influential and versatile midfielder, and is known for his long-range sho

Dutch international midfielder Rafael van der Vaart will "almost certainly" be Real Madrid's only new signing of the season, the president of the Spanish champions, Ramon Calderon, said Tuesday. "Rafael van der Vaart is the first recruit of this year and he will almost certainly be the only one," Calderon said during the 25-year-old's official unveiling at Real Madrid's Santiago-Bernabeu stadium. His comments come amidst growing signs that Real Madrid's bid to recruit Manchester United's Portuguese international winger Cristiano Ronaldo have stalled due to the English side's refusal to sell the 23-year-old player. Van der Vaart, whose mother is Spanish, signed with Real for five seasons in a deal reportedly worth 13 million euros (20 million dollars). "This is a family dream. I want to win many trophies," said van der Vaart who becomes Real's fifth Dutch player, the others being Ruud van Nistelrooy, Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder

Barcelona want Samuel Eto'o's future to be decided before next week's Champions League qualifier. Eto'o has been told that he will be allowed to leave the Nou Camp over the summer, but has yet to reach an agreement with any clubs. The Cameroon striker has been linked with moves to both the Premier League and Serie A, and is wanted by "four or five" teams, according to Txiki Begiristain. However, Begiristain is keen for the matter to reach a quick resolution ahead of Barca's game against either Beitar Jerusalem or Wisla Krakow in a week's time. "The date limit we have set to decide the future of Samuel Eto'o is the 12th August," Begiristain told reporters in New York. "The days are going past and the market closing. "If there is a decision, the best solution would be to do so before the Champions League preliminary. "We are looking at reactions and above all watching to see how Pep (Guardiola) sees himself with the group and

Andriy Shevchenko insisted Tuesday he can still be a Chelsea legend if he avoids the injuries that have plagued him since his move to Stamford Bridge. Shevchenko has endured a miserable two years in west London following his 30 million pounds (37 million euros) move from AC Milan and has repeatedly been linked with a switch back to Serie A. The Ukraine striker scored 173 times for Milan but has only recorded nine league goals for Chelsea, yet he has no intention of throwing in the towel. "During these two years at Chelsea I had two operations and a serious back injury," Shevchenko told the club's official website. "If I will have the opportunity to train and play without injuries, I would like to leave my mark on the history of Chelsea. Injuries constantly kept me out of action. "I have trained with the team only a week. The process of recovery is taking place normally and the injury doesn't bother me." Shevchenko hopes to thrive under new manager Luiz